The Japanese soldier  He was tough and a fighter to be reckoned with, although his   basic training and weapon handling was minimal. Discipline was a number one priority. During his training any lack of discipline was punished by his superiors in the form of beatings. Their age was between 18 years or forty and they were seldom taller than 1.60 meters.  By the time he joined his regiment he blindly obeyed orders. From an early age it was drilled in him and for that matter the whole Japanese population that surrender was dishonest and prisoners were tortured and killed by their enemies. No wonder most fought until death, as with death for the emperor came glory for ever. Being taken prisoner was less than human.

The Japanese soldier had three meals a day mainly 630 gram of rice supplemented with fish, meat, vegetables and fruit. He slept on a mat on the ground. He carried during operations his ammunition and hand grenades, rifle and bayonet, entrenching tools, a coat, two blankets, food utensils, extra socks and underwear. On top of this 10 kg of rice and drinking water. 

During the war the main problem in the Japanese army was supplies and more often than not they had to supply their own needs. 

Medical care, if at all was very basic and often the sick or dying were left on their own. Malaria, dysentery, cholera and beriberi took many lives. 

Most of the prison guards were recruited from Korean volunteers and very often the sadistic treatment the allied prisoners had to endure was due to them. 

In camp2, the "Death Camp", 5km south of Pakanbaroe, where the worst of the sick were taken  and most of them died, Korean guards sometimes pushed burning cigarettes in their face. One popular game of them was to line prisoners up in two lines opposite each other and let them attack each other. If this wasn't done to their liking, they used bamboo rods and rifle butts to show how it should be done and weren't satisfied until blood flowed. The winners of these fights were given cigarettes by the laughing guards. 

In most instances the Japanese guards, who had a higher norm, didn't mistreat the prisoners excessively. 

All the above is not meant as an excuse, but more as an insight in their behaviour towards the POW's. Why treat them as human beings when they stopped being humans when they surrendered.

Also because of their up bringing and belief's, the Japanese Army had no idea how to act or to look after the thousands of POWs after the surrender of the Allied troops. Tokyo had never given any guidelines to that affect.